Coin-counting machine



E. P. DONNELLAN.

COIN COUNTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12. 1920.

1,389,634. PatentedSept. 6,1921.

2 SHEET-SSHEET I.

ATTORNEYS E. P. DONNELLAN. 00m COUNTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE12, I920.

' Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- ll HI I l /w r ATTORNEY$ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD P. DONNELIiAN, OF BROOKLYN,

NEW YORK, ASS'IGNOR T0 S'JZ'AIN'DARD COIN COUNTER, INC., OF BROOKLYN,NEW YORK,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Application filed June 12,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. DONNELLAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Counting Machines;and I do hereby declare the following to be a tion of the invention,such as will ;,enable others skilled in the art to which it' appertainsto make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to characters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

The present invention relates, generally, to improvements incoin-counting machines of the general type shown and described inpreviously issued Letters-Patent, #1,160,- 830, dated Nov. 16th, 1915;and'the invention has reference, more particularly, to improvements incentrifugal coin feeding means for delivering the coins in a train orsuccessively to the counting mechanism.

The invention has for its principal object toprovide, in connection withthe centrifugal coin feeding means, a novel and improved detachable andadjustable coin guiding and controlling means which is adapted to bequickly and easily adjusted by a simple manipulation to arrange the samefor operationwith any desired denomination of coin. Other objects of thepresent invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, willbe clearly understood from the followin detailed description of thesame.

llVith the various objects of the present invention in "iew, the sameconsists, primarily, in the novel improved coin-counting machinehereinafter set forth; and, furthermore, this invention consists in thenovel arrangements and combinations of the various parts, as well as inthe details of the construction thereof, all of which will behereinafter more fully described in the followmg specification, and thenfinally embodied in the claims which are appended thereto.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view of the novel construction of improvedcoincounting machine made according to and embodying the principles ofthe present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail transverse vertical sec tion, taken on line 2-2 insaid Fig. 1.

Fig.3 isa detail transverse vertical sec- Speeification of LettersIatent.

full, clear, and exact descr p- Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 388,408.

tion, taken on line 33 in said Fig. 1,-drEiwn on an enlarged scale; andFig. 4 is a similar transverse vertical section illustrating the coinuiding and controlling means in an adjuste position adapted to operatewith coins of the largest denomination.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the hereinabovedescribed views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to said drawings, the reference-character 1 indicates thebed-plate of the improved coin-counting machlne, the same having acentrally disposed vertical bearing 2 in which is journaled a verticalspindle 3 to the upper end of which is fixed a rotatable table 4, theupper surface of which is preferably flush with the upper surface ofsaid bed-plate. Securedupon the lower end of said spindle 3 is a bevelgear 5. Projecting from the under side of said bedplate, at suitablelocations, are a pair of alined bearings 6 in which is journaled atransverse shaft 7. Secured upon the inner end of said shaft 7 is abevelgear 8 which meshes operatively with said bevel gear 5 of saidspindle 3. Secured upon the outer end of said transverse shaft 7 isahand-wheel 9, the same being provided with a suitable handle-member 10for rotating the same and said shaft 7 whereby through theinterconnecting transmission elements the table 4 is rotated. Connectedwith said hand-wheel 9 is a grooved pulley portion 11 for a driving belt12, the purpose of which will be subsequently described.

Mounted upon said bed-plate 1, so as to be registered above said table4, is a coin guiding and controlling means, comprising an annularvertical wall portion 13, from the lower end or bottom of which extendsan outwardly projecting horizontally disposed flange portion 14. Saidannular wall p01- tion 13 provides or incloses a coin receiving space orchamber 15 in which the coins to be counted are deposited, said space orchamber 15 being open at the top, and said rotatable table 4 forming thebottom of the same. Said flange portion 14 is undercut at its undersurface to provide an annular space or coin runway 16 intermediate saidflange portion and the marginal portions of the rotatable table 4, saidspace or coin runway 16 being open toward the interior of the chamber15. The said space or coin runway 16 is closed at its outer side by theshoulder 17 formed by the rim 18 of said flange portion 14, s idshoulder 17 providing a circular guide whereby the coins entering saidrunway, are guided to a place of escape as the same are carried aroundby the rotation of the table 4. A portion of said rim 18 is cut away toprovide an escape passage 19 through which the coins may pass to thecountlng mechanism. Arranged at one side within said escape passage 19so as to extend under said flange portion 14 and obliquely across thecoin runway 16 is a turn out plate or ton ue 20, the same being pro-Vided with a guiding edge 21, which, when engaged by the coins, servesto turn the latter for movement outwardly through said escape passage 19into engagement with a suitable counting mechanism. 'When the rim 18 ofsaid flange portion 14 is supported directly in contact with saidbed-plate 1, the said coin runway 16 is so spaced relative to therotatable table 4 as to be of proper height to admit edgewise into thesame coins of the thickness of ten-cent pieces, without permitting thesaid coins to pile upon one another ,or overlap each other within saidrunway,

but is not of sufiicient height to admit edgewise thereinto coins ofgreater thickness, such as one-cent, five-cent, twenty-five cent orfifty-cent pieces; consequently, when it is desired to operate themachine to count coins of the latter denominations it is necessary toelevate said flange-portion 14, to thereby increase the height of saidcoin runway 16 to the degree necessary to permit the admission of coinshaving the thickness of the particular denomination which it is desiredto count. To this end there are provided in connection with said bedplate 1, at suitable locations, a plurality of spring actuated liftingdevices which normally exert an upward lifting pressure upon said coinguard and controlling means. Said lifting devices each comprise averticall movable plunger 22 mounted in a perpendicular slideway 23provided in said bed-plate 1. Connected with the lower end of saidplunger 22 is a shank 24 of reduced diameter which extends downwardly toproject exteriorly through a correspondingly sized opening 25 at thelower end of said slideway 23. Arranged about said shank 24, betweenthe-lower end of said plunger and the bottom of said slideway is acompression spring 26 which exerts an upwardly moving pressure upon saidplunger.- The exterior free end of said shank 24 is provided withsuitably positioned stopv nuts 27 which limit the upward movement of theplunger. The lifting devices thus constructed are positioned in thebed-plate so as to engage, at several points, the under side of the rim18 of said flange portion 14, so as to exert an upward push or liftingpressure upon the latter. In order to prevent any accidental turning orshifting of said flange-portion 14 from its proper relation to saidrotatable table 4, an from its operative position wherein the escapeopening 19 is properly located relative to the coin counting mechanism,the under side of said rim 18 of the flange-portion 14 is providedwithsuitably located depressed or counter sunk seats 28, which, when thecoin guiding and controlling means is operatively assembled in themachine, receive the upper free ends of said plungers 22, thus engagingthe flange-portion 14 in a manner not only servingfito exert the desiredvertical liftin pressure thereupon, but also serving to hold saidflange-portion against shifts or turns in a horizontal plane.

In order to adjust the coin guiding and controlling means to the desiredheight corresponding to the thickness of the coin de-v nominationto becounted, and to hold the same in position when so adjusted, there isprovided an annular adjusting ring 29 which surrounds'the wall portion13 so as to extend over and rest upon the upper surface of theflange-portion 14, the same being held against vertical displacement bymeans of stopstuds or screws30 which are engaged in said wall portion13-above said adjusting ring. Said adjusting ring isrotatably movable ina horizontal plane upon said flange-portion 14, and is provided with asuitably located hand hold 31 which the operator may grasp as an aid toshifting the same. Said adjusting ring 29 is provided at its outer edgewith an upstandin rim or flange 32, which is provided, at suitablepoints, with downwardly inclined cam portions 33; Fixed upon saidbed-plate 1, in positions corresponding to the locations of said camportions 33 of said adjusting rin are vertical posts 34 havin inwardly0&- set stop members in the orm of lateral studs 35 carryinganti-friction rollers 36 agalnst which said cam-portions'33 are en-.

gaged. Arranged upon said adjusting ring is alock mechanism adapted tocooperate with the wall portion 13 to hold said adustlng ring in anydesired adjusted positlon, said lock mechanism may be of a great varietyof mechanical forms, and as illus-' trative of one form thereof whichadequately serves the purpose intended, the lockmechanism shown in thedrawings comprises a housing or casing 37 .open at its lower end andhaving an opening of reduced diameter at its upper end through whichextends outwardly a vertically movable shank 38. The inner end of saidshank 15 provided with a flanged head 39,.and between said head and theupper end of said casing 1s a compsession spring 40 serving to normallvretract position said shank 38. Th

e exteriorly 'proecting end of saidshank 38 is provided with afinger-piece 41, and below said finger-v to downwardly held 1 piece saidshank is provided with a transversely projecting latch-pin 42. The outerupper end of said housing or casing 37 is provided with a transversegroove .43 disposed substantially at right angles to the wall portion13, the same servin as a seat for said latch-pin 42 whereby t e same isprevented from turning away from its operatively projected positionacross the upper'edge of said wall-portion 13. Said upper edge of saidwall-portion 13 is provided with a series of transverse grooves ornotches 44 with which the latch-pin 42 may be selectively engaged, eachgroove or ngtch having arranged adjacent thereto an'identifyingcharacter indicative of the coin denomination for which the coin guidingand controlling means is set when the latch-pin is selectively engagedwith one or the other of said grooves or notches. As illustrated in Fig.1 of the drawings the latch-pin 42 is engaged in the groove or notchmarked 10 whereby the adjusting ring 29 is positioned to hold the comguiding and controlling means for service in counting ten-cent pieces.When said adjusting-ring is thus positioned the cam-portions 33 are sodisposed relative to the stop rollers 36 that their highest portions areengaged under the latter, whereby the flange-portion 14 is pressed downagainst the upward pressure of the spring actuated lifting plungers 22,to hold the flange-portion at. a level adjustin the height of said coinrunway 16 thereo to receive ten-cent pieces. If it is desired to adjustthe coin guiding and controlling means to receive one-cent pieces, thefingenpiece 41 of the lock mechanism a is grasped and pulled upwardly,thus raising the latch-p n 42 out of the grooveor notch marked 10. Whensaid latch-pin 42 is thus freed, the operator grasps the hand-hold 31and slides the adjusting ring to the right (i. e. in the direction ofthe arrow X in Fig. 1), until the latch-pin is over the groove or notchmarked 1, whereupon the finger-piece 41 is released to perm-it theactuating spring to draa: down the shank 38 thereby permitting thelatch-pin to seat itself in said last mentioned groove ornotch. Thismovement of the adjusting ring moves the cam portions 33 relative to thestop rollers 36, so that the downwardly inclined surface of said camportions are positioned relative to said stop rollers 36 to the properdegree necessary to allow the lift plungers 22 toraise the flangeportion 14 a sufiicient distance to increase the height of the coinrunway 16 to admit coins of the thickness of one-cent pieces. The abovedescribed adjusting operation is very quickly and easily accomplished,so that the setting of the coin guiding and controlllng means may beaccomplished by the operator with a minimum amount of trouble, and

without necessity of detaching or removing any of the machine parts. Itwill be understood that movement of the adjusting ring may be readilymade to selectively engage the latch-pin with any groove or notch desred, and owing to the downward inclinatlon of the cam portions 33 itwill be apparent that as the difi'erent points of the downwardly slopingsurface thereof are presented to the stop rollers 36 the flangeportion14 is thereby permitted to yield upwardly under the pressure of thespring actuated plungers 22 to any degree required corresponding to thethickness of coins to be counted. This is illustrated in the sectionshown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

In order to permit of quick and easy detachment or removal of the coinguiding and controlling means from the machine, if for any reason it isdesirable to remove the same, there are provided in the periphery of theflange-portion 14 a series of gate or clearance notches 45, which, whensaid flange-portion 14 is in normally attached re lation to saidbed-plate 1, are located in alinement beneath said stop rollers 36. Saidadjusting ring 29 is also provided in its outer periphery with similargate or clearance notches 46 located beyond the lowermost point of eachcam portion 33. The wallportion 13 is provided with a release groove 0rnotch 47. When it is desired to remove said coin guiding and controllingmeans, the lock mechanism is released, and the adjusting ring 29 movedto the right until said latch-pin is registered with and engaged in saidrelease groove or notch 47. This movement of the adjusting ring carriesits gate or clearance notches 46 beneath said stop-rollers 46 and intoalinement with said gate or clearance notches 45 of the flange-portion14. When the parts are thus positioned the flange portion 1.4 with theadjusting ring 29 may be lifted upwardly off and away from the bed-plate1, the alined gate or clearance notches 45 and 46 permitting the same toclear and pass by said stop rollers 36. It will thus be apparent thatthe coin guiding and controlling'means may be readily and quicklyremoved with a minimum of manipulation. i

In order to give access to the coin runway 16 to, dislodge mutilated,bent or obstructing coins while the coin guiding and controlling meansis in operatively attached relation to the machine, the flange-portion14 is provided with slots 48 of a width less than a coin of smallestdiameter, said slots 48 being located above said runway 16 so as to giie access to a dislodging instrument adapted to be inserted therethroughand engaged with the coin to be dislodged. Said adjusting ring 29 islikewise provided with slots 49 which register over the slots 48 of saidflange portion, so that the dislodging instrument may be insertedthrough said adjusting ring and thence through said flange portion.

The coin counting mechanism and the propelling mechanism, driven by thedriving belt 12, to which the coins to be counted are guided and fed bythe above described improved coin guiding and controlling means issubstantially the same, both in construction and manner of operation asthose described in the previous Letters-Patent #1,160,830, abovereferred to, and consequently detailed description thereof is notnecessary relative to the present invention.

I am aware that some changes may be made in the general arangements andcombinations of the various devices and parts, as well as in the detailsof the construction thereof, without departing from the scope of thepresent invention as set forth in the foregoing specification, and asdefined in the appended claims. Hence, I do not'limit my invention tothe exact arrangements and combinations of the various devices and partsas described in said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exactdetails of the construction of the said devices and parts as illustratedin the accompanying drawings.

I claim 1. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a' rotatablefeed table of an annular coin guiding means vertically movable toaccommodate the thickness of coin desired to be counted, stop means forlimiting the upward movement of said guiding means, and means movablebetween said stop means and said guiding means for determining thedesired elevation of the latter.

2. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a rotatable feedtable of an annular coin guiding means vertically movable to accommodatethe thickness of coin desired to be counted, means for exerting liftingpressure upon said guiding means, stop means for limiting the upwardmovement of said guiding means, a movable cam' ring interposed betweensaid guiding means and said stop means for determining the desiredelevation of the former, and means for holding said cam ring in desiredadjusted position.

3. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a rotatable feedtable of a guide ring having a coin runway arranged over the marginalportions of said table, spring actuated means for exerting a liftingpressure upon said guide ring, stop means for limiting the upwardmovement of said guide ring," and adjustable means intermediate saidstop means and said guidering for regulating'the elevation of the latterrelative to said table.

4. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a rotatable'feedtable of a guide ring havin a coin runway arranged over the marginaportions of said table,

spring actuated means for exerting a lifting pressure upon said guidering, stop means for limiting the upward movement of said guide ring, acam ring capable of rotative movement interposed between said stop meansand said guide ring for regulating the elevation of the latter relativeto the table, means for holding said cam ring in desirediadjustedposition.

5. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a bed-plate of arotatable feed table, a guide ring having a coin runway arranged overthe marginal portions of said table, spring actuated llfting meansmounted in said bed-plate to exert an upward pressure upon said guidering, stop means fixed to said bed-plate to limit the upward movement ofsaid guide-ring, a rotatable adjust-- in said be -plate to exert anupward pressure upon said ring, stop means fixed to said bed-plate tolimit the upward. movement ofsaid guide-ring, a rotatable adjusting ringmovable between said guide-ring and said stop means, inclined cammembers on said ad usting ring engageable with said stop means todetermine the desired elevation of said guide ring, a latch means onsaid adjusting ring, and said vertical annular wall of said guide ringhaving a plurality of latch seats selectively .enga able by said latchmeans to hold said ad usting ring in desired adjusted position.

7. In a coin counting machine, a bed-plate, a rotatable feed table, acoin guiding ring arranged over the marginal portions of said table, alurality of upwardly pressed spring actuate lungers mounted in saidbed-plate, said gui ing ring having in its under side sockets to receivethe ends of said plungers, said plungers serving to exert an upwardlifting pressure upon said guiding ring, fixed posts extending upwardlyfrom said bedplate, laterally projected stop rollers carried by saidposts, and a rotatable adjusting ring provided with inclined camportions supported on said guiding ring in engagement with said stoprollers.

8. In a coin counting machine, a bedplate, a rotatable feed table, acoin guiding ring arranged over the marginal portions of said table, aplurality of upwardly pressed spring actuated plungers mounted in saidbed-plate, said guiding ring having in its under side sockets to receivethe ends of said plungers, said plungers serving to exert an upwardlifting pressure upon said guiding ring, fixedposts extending upwardlyfrom said bed-plate, laterally projected stop rollers carried by saidposts, a rotatable adjusting ring provided with inclined cam portionssupported on said guiding ring in engagement with said stop rollers, andmeans for holding said adjusting ring in desired adjusted position.

9. In a coin counting machine, a bed-plate, a rotatable feed table, acoin guiding ring arranged over the mar 'nal portions of said table, aplurality o upwardly pressed spring actuated plungers mounted in saidbed-plate, said guiding ring having in its under side sockets to receivethe ends of said plungers, said plungers serving to exert an upwardlifting pressure upon said guiding ring, fixed posts extending upwardlyfrom said bed-plate, laterally projected stop rollers'carried by saidposts, a rotatable adjusting ring provided with inclined cam portionssupported on said guiding ring in 'en-. gagement with said stop rollers,and means for holding said adjusting ring in desired adjusted position,said means comprising a latch device on said adjusting ring, and saidguiding ring having suitably located latchseats selectively engageableby said latch device.

10. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a verticallymovable coin guiding ring, of stop means for limiting the upwardmovement of said guiding ring, a rotatable adjustable cam ring intermesaid guiding ring and said stop means, said guiding ring havingclearance notches alined with said stop means, and said cam ring havingsimilar clearance notches alinable,

rotatable element having peripherally located clearance notches alinablewith said stop means by rotation of the same whereby said guiding meansmay bev removed from the machine.

12. In a coin counting machine, the combination with a rotatable feedtable, of a guide ring having a coinrunway arranged over the marginalortions of said table, said ide rin having slots giving access to theinterior 0 said runway.

13. In a coin counting machine, the com-'- bination with a rotatablefeed table, of a vertically adjustable. guide ring having a coin runwayarranged over the marglnal portions of said table, a cam ring on saidide ring for controlling the adjustment of the latter, said guide ringhaving slots giving access to the interior of said runway and said camring having similar slots aline with the slots of said lguide' ring.

In testimony that claim the invention set forth above I have hereuntoset my hand this 7th day of June, 1920. 1

EDWARD P. DONNELLAN.

Witnesses:

Gnonon D. RICHARDS, J AllES L. Donmimm.

